Issue 36 - London mixes a recipe for success

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London mixes a recipe for success

Whisky cocktails present mixologists with a unique set of problems. But some of London's finest were up for the challenge. Dominic Roskrow reports.

Morning is spluttering to a conclusion and we're into that part of the day which diners would consider brunch time. At The Lonsdale in London's Notting Hill our guests are arriving. Slowly. Some with water in hand, some with sandwiches, one or two with cigarettes.

They're chatting about a gin launch the night before and in the half-light of the club, they're giving a good impression of having just got up.

And many of them have.

These are London's slickest bar managers and cocktail makers. Men – they are all males – who didn't find their bed until the sun started announcing the day. This is early for them and it shows.

We're here for a whisky cocktail challenge, a fun idea that sort of grew out of nothing and then snowballed. Once the idea had been floated here and then launched with the help of Dave Broom, first the whisky companies and then the drinks experts had all shown willing to
get involved.

The Lonsdale's Henry Besant is here as a judge, as is Nick Strangeway. They are joined by Tom Innes, Editor of Flavour Magazine, by our very own Dave Broom and by Audrey Saunders, beverage director for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts and based at The Carlyle in New York. She is here on a fact-finding mission and will later rave about this event on her website.

There are four competitors and each will mix two cocktails – a modern one and a traditional one. They constitute a weighty quartet; Daniel Undhammar, our old friend from Chivas; Alex Turner, representing Woodford Res...